Son of mistaken identity murder victim jailed on weapons charge

The son in law of the woman who was shot and killed on her balcony in Amsterdam in January, was arrested in February on a weapons charge and has been in custody since. It is believed that the son in law, Mehmet D., was the intended victim of the assassination that instead killed 60 year old Beyan Demirci. She was killed on January 14th, while smoking a cigarette on her balcony. The Public Prosecutor assumes that it was a case of mistaken identity and that 46 year old D., who is well known in the criminal underworld, was the real target. Mehmet D was arrested in Haarlem on February 6th. The police found a machine gun and a semiautomatic on his person when he was arrested, the Public Prosecutor confirmed to RTV Noord Holland. D. has been in custody since his arrest and has to appear in the court in Amsterdam for a so-called pro-forma hearing next week. According to a Public Prosecutor spokesperson, D. is currently only facing charges for weapons possession, but may still face other charges as the investigation is still ongoing. In a conversation tapped by the Public Prosecutor D.'s lawyer, Jeroen van Weers, said that D. wanted to buy weapons after his mother in law was killed. According to the lawyer, D. wanted a weapon because he was afraid. Van Weers denies that D. wanted to commit an attack. "He doesn't know who is responsible for the death of his mother in law. The suggestion that he wanted to commit an assassination himself with those weapons, is absolutely incorrect. He only wanted to protect himself." The lawyer also claims that D. had nothing to do with Turkish criminal Baris Onder's assassination almost two weeks ago. D.'s wife, Beyan Demirci's daugther, had a relationship with Onder a few years ago, but according to Van Weers, this did not lead to conflict between D. and Onder.